The Case for Single Motherhood: Contemporary Maternal Identities and Family Formations

The Case for Single Motherhood examines the rhetorical work of elective single mothers (ESMs) in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, who sought to legitimize their maternal identities and family formations. Katherine Mack argues that family should be a central concern of rhetorical studies and demonstrates how the category of elective single motherhood emerged in response to the historically differential treatment of "unwed mothers" along racial and class lines. She analyzes how ESMs envision motherhood and offers women who are considering nonnormative paths to motherhood a way to affirm their maternal identities and paths without disparaging others.

Format: Hardback
Length: 192 pages
Publication date: 05 December 2023
Publisher: The University of Alabama Press

Scholars of rhetoric have often overlooked the inherent rhetoricity of family, a central concern of rhetorical studies. In her book, The Case for Single Motherhood, Katherine Mack posits family as a central concern of rhetorical studies by reflecting on how language is used by single mothers who seek to reenvision the personal, social, and political meanings of family. Drawing on intersectional and rhetorical theories, Mack demonstrates how the category of elective single motherhood emerged in response to the historically differential treatment of "unwed mothers" along racial and class lines. Through her readings of a range of self-sponsored ESM texts, including guidebooks, memoirs, and interactive digital media written by and primarily for other ESMs, and from her perspective as an elective single mother herself, Mack evaluates the rhetorical power, as well as the exclusions and hierarchies, that the ESM label effects. She analyzes how ESMs envision motherhood, visions that entail their musings about who can and should mother. Ultimately, Mack offers women who are considering nonnormative paths to motherhood a way to affirm their maternal identities and paths without disparaging others.

This volume will be of interest to scholars in the fields of rhetoric and feminist rhetorical studies, as it provides an illuminating perspective on the rhetorical power of self-sponsored texts in particular. Mack's methodology for identifying and evaluating the goals and effects of legitimacy work and her selection of sources that bring academic attention to varied genres of self-sponsored writings pave the way for future rhetorical studies of motherhood.

In conclusion, The Case for Single Motherhood is a groundbreaking work that challenges traditional notions of family and motherhood and offers a new way to think about the rhetorical power of self-sponsored texts. Mack's scholarship provides valuable insights for scholars and activists working to promote diversity and inclusivity in family formation and to challenge the hierarchies and exclusions that exist in society.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780817321543